Flashlight attachment for clipboards



Jan. 10, 1967 V ETAL 3,297,862

' FLASHLIGHT ATTACHMENT FOR CLIPBOARDS Filed Oct. 30, 1964 VIIIIII IIIII I I I I l 1 I I 5 I "I'IIII'II'I 1 INVENTORS LOUIS LEVY ROGER L. VAN DEN HOUT Qumwfi Gm? ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,297,862 FLASHLHGHT ATTACHMENT FOR CLIPBOARDS Louis Levy, 1 Lafayette Plaisance, Suite 2003, Detroit, Mich. 48207, and Roger L. Van Den Hout, 20555 Lash'er Road, Apt. 20, Detroit, Mich. 48219 Fiieil Oct. 30, 1964, Ser. No. 407,690 3 Claims. (Cl. 240-64) This invention relates to a flashlight atachment for clipboards.

Conventional paper clamping and supporting clipboards are frequently used in dark places, such as by meter readers, or at night, such as by gas station attendants, thus necessitating that the user carry a flashlight to illuminate the paper on the clipboard as well as any other object providing data which must be recorded, such as a meter. Thus, the user of such a conventional clipboard frequently finds it awkward and difficult to handle the clipboard with a flashlight and at the same time a writing implement for recording data on the paper secured to the clipboard,

Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a flashlight attachment for clipboards wherein a flashlight may be easily and removably secured to the clip portion of the clipboard so that the flashlight and the clipboard may be handled as a unit, and wherein a bracket mounting means is provided so that the flashlight can be mounted upon a conventional clipboard without modifying or changing it in any way.

A further object of this invention is to provide a flashlight attachment for clipboards wherein the flashlight is double-ended, in that it shine either forwardly or rearwardly so that it illuminates either the paper upon the clipboard or a meter or the like being read by the user of the clipboard, or both simultaneously.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following description, of which the attached drawings form a part.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the upper portion of a conventional clipboard, but with the mounting means for flashlights secured thereto.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the clipboard of FIG. 1, but includes a flashlight mounted thereon.

Pi G. 3 is a perspective view of the device of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of the flashlight, the mounting means, and the clip portion of the clipboard, per se, and shows a step in assembling the flashlight upon the mounting means.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the flashlight mounting means with the parts disassembled.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view, taken as if in the direction of arrow 66 of FIG. 4, but to a reduced scale, showing the flashlight and the flashlight mounting means only.

With reference to FIGS. 1-3, the clipboard 10 includes a rigid support board 11 having a clip means 12 secured near its upper end. The clip means include a widened clip lower portion 13 aranged to clamp against a pad or sheets of paper 14 and is integral with a narrowed, center portion 15 which terminates in an upper ring portion 16. The sides of the center portions are bent into lugs 17 which are pivotally connected at 18 to lugs 19 integrally formed upon a base plate 20 whose upper end is formed as a support ring 21, and whose lower portion is bent into a base stop flange 2 2.

The above construction is typical of a conventional clipboard and forms not part of the invention herein.

The flashlight comprises a case or container 26 having a forward bulb 27 and reflector 27a and a rear bulb 28 and reflector 23a. On the upper surface of the case is a switch button 29 which operates a selector switch 3297,62 Patented Jan. 10, 1967 "ice (not shown) connected in series to either one or two conventional flashlight batteries and to the forward and rear bulbs 27 and 28. The arrangement of the batteries and the connection between the batteries and the bulbs and the switch are conventional and thus not illustrated.

The flashlight is so arranged that the selector switch has three positions, one to turn on the forward bulb 27 for directing a light upon a meter or the like, the second to turn on the rear bulb 28 for illuminating the paper 14 upon the support base 11, and the third to turn on both the forward and the rear bulbs simultaneously.

Formed integrally with the case '26 is a rectangularshaped pad portion 30 having grooves 31 formed in its sides to thus form tracks,

An attachment means 35 is provided to secure the flashlight upon the clip center portion 15. The attachment means is formed of a flat plate 36 having integral side extensions 37 formed with slots 38 (see FIGS. 1 and 5).

A bar 39 is arranged beneath the clip portion 15 in alignment with the side extensions 37, and the bar is also provided with slots 40 for alignment with the slots 38. Screws 41 pass through the slots 38 and 40 and are fastened by nuts 42 to thereby rigidly clamp the clip center portion between the attachment plate 36 and the lower bar 39. This forms a rigid connection, but can be disconnected easily.

Struck out guides in the form of inverted L-shaped, in cross-section, flanges 44 are formed in the attachment plate 36, to slidably fit into the grooves or tracks 31 formed in the integral pad 30 of the flashlight.

The upper end of the plate 36 is provided with a bent up stop flange 45 while the opposite end is provided with a low or narrow bent up resilient blocking flange 46.

In operation, the user first secures the attachment means 35 to his clipboard. Thereafter, the flashlight is aligned so that its tracks 39 slidably receive the guides 44 (see FIG. 4) and the flashlight is pushed towards stop flange 45. At that time, the resilient locking flange 46 resiliently springs downwardly out of the way to permit the passage of the flashlight pad 30 and, when the flashlight pad contacts the stop flange, the resilient locking flange resiliently springs back to contact the end of the flashlight pad and thus lock the pad upon the plate.

To remove the flashlight, the user simply has to pull the flashlight back against the resilient locking flange with sufficient force to spring the locking flange out of the way and thereby slidably remove the flashlight from the guides 44.

This invention may be further developed within the scope of the following claims, Accordingly, it is desired that the foregoing description be read as being merely illustrative of an operative embodiment of this invention and not in a strictly limited sense.

We now claim:

1. A flashlight attachment for clipboards having a flattened sheet material clip hingedly connected to a support board for clamping paper to said board, with the clip having an exposed outer face and a rear face facing toward the board, comprising a flat base plate adapted to be arranged upon the clip outer face and having side extensions integral with each side of the plate; a bar adapated to be arranged against the clip rear face; and mechanical fastening means for fastening the extensions to the ends of the bar for clamping the clip between the plate and bar; and struck out guides formed on the plate and extending outwardly therefrom and being shaped to slidably receive tracks formed upon a flashlight for thereby securing the flashlight to the plate; and said guides being parallel to the side edges of the plate; a stop flange bent outwardly from one end of the plate, and a narrow resilient locking flange formed integral with the opposite end of the plate, the locking flange being normally in the path of movement of the tracks into said guides, but being resiliently bendable out of the way of said tracks during the sliding of the flashlight tracks into locking engagement with the guides and being resiliently returnable into its normal position to block the removal of the tracks from the guides.

2. A combination clipboard and flashlight comprising a support board having a flattened sheet metal clip hingedly secured thereto at one end thereof for clamping paper against the board; a flashlight mounted upon said clip and comprising a container having a light mounted at each of its opposite ends and being arranged so that one light is arranged to shine towards the paper upon the clipboard and the other light is arranged to shine forwardly of the board end upon which the clip is secured; and means for removably mounting the flashlight upon the clip of the clipboard; said means comprising a flat plate arranged upon the exposed face of the clip, the plate having integral end extensions extending outwardly of 20 the sides of the clip; a bar arranged against the clip, between the clip and the board, and mechanical fastening means for securing said extensions to the bar for thus clamping the clip therebetween; elongated guides struck out of the plate and arranged parallel to the side edges of the plate; said flashlight having tracks formed in its portion located adjacent to the clip for slidably interconnecting with said guides for thus mounting the flashlight upon the plate.

3. A construction as defined in claim 2 and said flashlight having an integral,- approximately rectangular shaped pad formed on its portion located adjacent the clips, the side edges of the pad each being grooved to form said tracks and the plate guides being formed of flanges bent outwardly of the face of the plate and having ends bent inwardly towards each other to slidably fit into said tracks; one end of the plate having a bent up stop flange and the other end of the plate having a resilient, bent up, narrow flange for normally forming a stop for the pad, but being resiliently bendable towards the plane of the plate for temporarily clearing the pad when the pad tracks are slide upon said guides.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,807,501 5/1931 Alexander 24052.5 X 2,052,654 9/1936 Ponath 240-IO.6 2,329,556 9/1943 Raa'be 2406.4 2,580,258 12/1951 Tarasuk 240l0.68 X 2,769,895 11/1956 Boord 24052.5 X 3,218,448 11/1965 Cala.

JOHN M. HORAN, Primary Examiner.

NORTON ANSHER, Examiner.

CHARLES C. LOGAN II, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A FLASHLIGHT ATTACHMENT FOR CLIPBOARDS HAVING A FLATTENED SHEET MATERIAL CLIP HINGEDLY CONNECTED TO A SUPPORT BOARD FOR CLAMPING PAPER TO SAID BOARD, WITH THE CLIP HAVING AN EXPOSED OUTER FACE AND A REAR FACE FACING TOWARD THE BOARD, COMPRISING A FLAT BASE PLATE ADAPTED TO BE ARRANGED UPON THE CLIP OUTER FACE AND HAVING SIDE EXTENSIONS INTEGRAL WITH EACH SIDE OF THE PLATE; A BAR ADAPTED TO BE ARRANGED AGAINST THE CLIP REAR FACE; AND MECHANICAL FASTENING MEANS FOR FASTENING THE EXTENSIONS TO THE ENDS OF THE BAR FOR CLAMPING THE CLIP BETWEEN THE PLATE AND BAR; AND STRUCK OUT GUIDES FORMED ON THE PLATE AND EXTENDING OUTWARDLY THEREFROM AND BEING SHAPED TO SLIDABLY RECEIVE TRACKS FORMED UPON A FLASHLIGHT FOR THEREBY SECURING THE FLASHLIGHT TO THE PLATE; AND SAID GUIDES BEING PARALLEL TO THE SIDE EDGES OF THE PLATE; A STOP FLANGE BENT OUTWARDLY FROM ONE END OF THE PLATE, AND A NARROW RESILIENT LOCKING FLANGE FORMED INTEGRAL WITH THE OPPOSITE END OF THE PLATE, THE LOCKING FLANGE BEING NORMALLY IN THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF THE TRACKS INTO SAID GUIDES, BUT BEING RESILIENTLY BENDABLE OUT OF THE WAY OF SAID TRACKS DURING THE SLIDING OF THE FLASHLIGHT TRACKS INTO LOCKING ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GUIDES AND BEING RESILIENTLY RETURNABLE INTO ITS NORMAL POSITION TO BLOCK THE REMOVAL OF THE TRACKS FROM THE GUIDES. 